The Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) yesterday said that swimmer Jessica Stephenson had qualified above Britany van Lange and would have been Guyana’s female representative in swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics if not for current personal obligations which sidelined the former Trinidad-based swimmer.
Vice-President of GASA, Karen Pilgrim in an e-mail correspondence pointed out that Stephenson had accumulated more FINA (International Swimming Federation) points than van Lange, and in all fairness, qualified ahead of van Lange for the spot.
“While we are proud of Britany’s achievements and look forward to seeing her performance in London, it is only fair to say that (were it not for the unfortunate circumstances facing Jessica’s family since CARIFTA; making it impossible for her to train since that time) Jessica would be our female representative at the London Games,” Pilgrim noted.
Pilgrim was responding to an article in another section of the print media which stated that Van Lange was chosen because she improved on her time while Stephenson did not.
“I wish to correct the impression given in the Guyana Times Article… [which] gives the impression that Britany van Lange did better than Jessica Stephenson,” Pilgrim stated.
The FINA points accumalated by the swimmers was the determining criteria for choosing the swimmers who would represent Guyana in swimming at the Olympics which will be held in London, England.
With no swimmer qualifying for any event at the Olympics, Guyana was awarded two Universality Places for one male and one female swimmer.
According to Pilgrim, Universality Places were only awarded to swimmers who participated in the FINA World Championships, held in Shanghai, China last year.
Nial Roberts was the only male representative at the World Championships and so was the only choice for the male swimmer whereas the female slot saw van Lange and Stephenson emerging as the top two choices.
All of the swimmers had attained FINA points for events they participated in at the World Championships but still had the ability to improve their points by performing at other FINA-sanctioned meets.
As a result, despite the fact that van Lange attained more FINA points in her 100m freestyle at the World Championships, Stephenson, who originally started out with the lower points, subsequently achieved additional points in her 200m breaststroke, which placed her at a higher standing than van Lange and thus became Guyana’s first choice female swimmer for the Olympics.
Stephenson had also improved her FINA points through her performances at the CARIFTA Swimming Championships held earlier this year.
“Using the FINA points table, Britany’s 100m Freestyle swim in Shanghai was 610 points (with a time of 1:01.39s), while Jessie’s 200 Breaststroke was 598 points (2:46.28s).
However, since then Britany has not bettered her Shanghai time while Jessica improved at CARIFTA 2012 gaining 631 points in the 200 Breaststroke, finishing in 2:43.32s,” Pilgrim explained.
